After
playing 13 long years offering solid contributions to every team whom he has
played far, it may be the time to bid Shawn Marion a fond farewell as his
days of being “the Matrix” are now over.
He’s posting a career low in scoring of 8.5 points per game and has
increasingly become a nonfactor on his team.
Now playing with a strained
MCL, his once explosive athleticism is all but a fading memory and what’s
left is a broken down shell of a player
that the Mavericks owe 17$ million over the next two years. His current play is indicative of the sad
current state of this once proud franchise that is now currently on the verge
of complete collapse. Marion’s
declining performance and diminishing return will just continue to drag the
mavericks further down and out of NBA relevancy.

First
Player of the Month: OJ Mayo

Who
would have thought that a player that was once considered a draft day bust
and a lost cause would be the sole reason why the Dallas Mavericks remain
remotely respectable thus far in this early season? OJ Mayo went from being an inconsistent
bench player in Memphis to becoming the team’s leading scorer posting a
career high in points per game and simply torching the net from behind the
arc shooting an inconceivable .523 from the three point line. Considering the fact that the Mavs only got
him for a mere 4$ million per year for two years makes him one of the most
valued free agent acquisitions in the league.
Knowing his history of being streaky, his output will undoubtedly not
last the entire season, but at least for now he will temporarily keep this
sinking ship afloat until it inevitably fall to the bottom of the sea. For Dallas’ sake, let’s hope that Mayo’s
blistering start remains a mainstay for the duration of the season.

Analysis:

For a team heading for a long way down to the bottom
after 13 straight playoff appearances, the Dallas Mavericks have played
rather respectably to say the least. Most
other crumbling franchises would see no reason to continue trying and would simply
tank their seasons with the hopes of attaining the number one overall pick in
next year’s NBA draft, but not the Mavericks.
Dallas has remained competitive fighting for every win while showing
that despite their dire circumstances and inevitable collapse, the Mavericks
will not quit regardless. They started the season quite strong winning four
of their first five games including shocking a rather lethargic and dumbfounded Los Angeles Lakers team as the Mavs beat them rather convincingly (10/30/2012). Unfortunately for the Mavericks, the thrill
of victory was fleeting at best as they would fall in eight of their next
eleven games; however, that should not take away from the effort that the
Mavericks have shown, especially considering the fact that they were without
their star player for this entire time.

It is bad enough that the Mavericks’ roster primarily
consists of lumbering dinosaurs on the verge of extinction, but to not have
the man who has been the face, heart and soul of franchise should be
devastating to say the least. Despite
being in obvious decline in terms of his performance and production, Dirk Nowitzi remained Dallas’ sole beacon
of hope to maintain the team’s fading chances to make a fourteenth straight
appearance in the post season. His absence
has left the Mavericks a huge void to fill, especially on the offensive end;
however, instead of simply throwing in the towel, the team grew stronger as
Nowitzki’s teammates stepped up their games to fill the massive void he has
left behind. Although newcomer OJ Mayo
has had to shoulder much of the scoring burden, winning has truly been a team
affair as the Mavericks have had at least six of their players score in
double figures in three of their seven wins in November. Much of the credit has to be given to the
team’s second unit who has been off setting the absence of their injured superstar.

Dallas’ bench that has been the primary factor in
the Mavericks’ maintained stay in relevancy in a very competitive Western
Conference. Thus far, the bench have
accounted for 40 of the team’s 100.9 points per game that it has scored in
the 16 games that Dallas has played in November. In all but two of their November games
(10/30, 10/31), the second unit has come up big for the Mavericks scoring at
least 30 points in every game, with more than 40 in six (11/5, 11/9, 11/10,
11/17, 11/21, 11/27) and scoring up to 58 of the team’s points in two of them
as well (11/3, 11/24). One of the
reasons for the strong performances from the team’s bench has to be due to
the regular shifting of the team’s starting lineup where eleven players have
played in the starting five at least once this season. Whereas numerous teams would struggle
chemistry wise if a coach continuously tinkers with the lineup, in Dallas, it
is the complete opposite as the team seems to thrive thanks to Rick Carlisle’s
numerous roster shakeups.

It only goes to show the true winning culture that
continues to stay with the team despite its recent hardships—that no matter
who starts and comes off the bench, winning will always stay paramount over
personal ambition. There is no room for “me first” players in Dallas—every Mavs
player knows and understands his role on the team and how that may change with
each passing game depending on who they face on any given night. There is no favoritism nor is there any
leaning towards playing veterans over younger players—everyone on that team
has had a chance to contribute and thus prove themselves with each passing
moment whether or not the coach decides to put them in the game. Unlike most other teams in the NBA, being a
starter does not necessarily guarantee that a player will play a huge load of
minutes when it comes to the Mavericks and that is probably the reason why
there are no problems in terms of players complaining about minutes. Of the 15 man roster, 14 have averaged at
least ten 10 minutes of playing time per game that they have played, with ten
of them at least playing 20 minutes per game and only two players who play
more than 30 minutes per game thus giving the Mavericks a well oil machine
with flexible interchangeable parts capable of facing any challenges that
come its way.

So far this December, it has been very smooth
sailing for the Mavericks as they have been 4-2 thus far and have attained a
.500 record with already a quarter of the season passed. Despite their evident decline, Dallas has
still managed to stay in striking distance of remaining in playoff contention. The Mavericks currently rest on the eighth and
last playoff spot just half a game behind the 7th place Minnesota Timberwolves and two and a half behind the Utah Jazz for sixth place. Considering that a lot can change as the
season progresses, the Mavs can still make a move to secure themselves a top
five spot in the West and with Dirk Nowitzki coming to join them soon, confidence
in Dallas’ chances of playoff contention continues to gather momentum. Considering the fact that this is a team
that is supposed to be heading in the opposite direction, that cannot be
considered as “too shabby” to say the least.